Google inundated with “right to be forgotten” requests

Humans, rather than algorithms, will process info-removal requests, one at a time.

After providing an online form enabling Europeans to request that search engines remove links to obsolete information in compliance with a top European court’s “right to be forgotten” ruling last week, Google has received more than 12,000 such requests.

Unlike with Google subsidiary YouTube's (and its competitors’) automated and algorithm-based Content ID matching and filtration systems, which monitor users' uploads of copyrighted materials, the "right to be forgotten" requests will have to be handled by human beings at the company on a case-by-case basis, reports MarketWatch.

Of the information removal requests submitted to Google UK and Google Ireland to date, the leading reasons for seeking information removal include 31 percent who wish to have fraud or scam incidents removed, 20 percent who wish to have violent or serious crime arrests removed, and 12 percent who wish to have child pornography arrests removed, according to Search Engine Land.

Google offered its new online form in the wake of a controversial decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which ruled that European residents have the right to make Internet search engines remove online links when the information contained is deemed “inadequate” or “irrelevant,” according to a press release issued by the ECJ.

Google reluctantly released the "right to be forgotten" form, despite a spokesman previously telling Ars, “This is a disappointing ruling for search engines and online publishers in general.” Echoing Google’s concerns, Raegan MacDonald from Access, a digital rights organization, argued that "companies should not be tasked with balancing fundamental rights or making decisions on the appropriateness, lawfulness, or relevance of information they did not publish,” reports Reuters.

In the matter before the ECJ, attorney Mario Costeja González claimed that Google had violated his privacy rights under the European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection, which guarantees a “right to be forgotten” in cases where information is incomplete or inaccurate. The Court largely agreed with González’s argument that Google’s links to search results like a legal notice dating back to a 1998 story involving his forced property sale to satisfy mounting personal debt violated his rights. As such, the court reasoned that the search giant should be required to take down such links.

In the introduction to the form, Google explains its guiding principles for processing requests:

[W]e will assess each individual request and attempt to balance the privacy rights of the individual with the public’s right to know and distribute information. When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there’s a public interest in the information—for example, information about financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials.